Oxon Cove and Oxon Hill Farm – The Capitol then and now – Biden’s surprising comment about Putin – Second booster is available, but is it needed? – Evening statistics
I went to Oxon Cove Park today, which contains the trailhead for an isolated segment of the Potomac Heritage Trail. The idea was to determine whether the PHT can be extended and connected to other segments. I found that it is possible, for it leads to a bike route that can be taken all the way to Anacostia. From there, a number of routes lead to Georgetown, after which one can go over the Key Bridge to Roosevelt Island and resume the PHT from its parking area. It must be admitted, however, that the bike route in question presents some difficulties; it runs through some rather drab neighborhoods around the border between Southeast DC and Prince Georges County – not unsafe, but not especially pleasant either. The route I took skirted by Oxon Cove, a wide expanse of water over which one may view the eastern side of Washington in the distance. I also went around Oxon Hill Farm, a complex whose earliest buildings date from the early 19th century. The farm contains the original manor, a brick stable (unusual for the time—most stables were built from wood), a root cellar that provided the equivalent of a modern-day refrigeration, and examples of 19th-century farm implements. The manor is a comfortably-sized house but not a stately mansion by any means. There was a sobering note among the placards describing the life of the original family living there; even a relatively modest house was largely maintained by slave labor. Samuel Welby, the original owner, left an estate of about $3225 (a fairly large sum for the time, but again, not enormous), and over three-quarters of its value was reckoned in the slaves attached to it.
Oxon Hill provided another cause for interest. The house is situated on an eminence that overlooks the eastern edge of the capital and the original inhabitants were thus enabled to witness the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812 from a distance. One of the placards quoted a letter from Mrs. Welby writing to her relatives about the intense distress she felt upon seeing the Capitol in flames. More than two centuries later, the Capitol again became a source of sympathetic anguish on account of its being besieged, and on this occasion the assailants were not an army of foreign invaders but our own countrymen.
Biden has said that Putin “cannot remain in power” during his visit to Poland. That remark goes considerably further than anything he has said up to this point about the invasion, and one wonders about the extent it will commit our nation to participate more directly in the Ukrainian resistance than it has done up to this point. It is not clear whether this statement was part of his prepared speech or was a reaction of spontaneous outrage. Lviv, the closest major Ukrainian city to Poland, has witnessed several explosions from Russian attacks, and flames and billowing smoke are coming close to the Polish border. I certainly have no quarrel with advocating Putin’s overthrow; but I would like to know how Biden plans to reach this goal. The very least he can do, it seems to me, is to equip Ukraine with sophisticated fighter jets for the purpose of assailing the Russian invaders.
Biden is also offering a free second booster to Americans 50 and older, with distribution beginning as early as next week. Ordinarily I have little sympathy with the anti-vaxxers, but I can readily understand that sentiment that inspired one to respond “if you make it to 20 without dropping dead, you get that shiny toaster or a VCR.” One can make a case for an annual booster, but not for getting one just a few months after receiving the first one. The CDC has said that the Pfizer and Moderna boosters remain 78% effective at least five months after they are administered.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 480,839,751; # of deaths worldwide: 6,145,441; # of cases U.S.: 81,614,255; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,003,418.